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Alligator
| running time = 91 min. | country = USA | language = English | budget = $1,500,000 | gross revenue = | preceded by = | followed by = Alligator II: The Mutation }} Alligator is a 1980 independent horror/comedy film directed by Lewis Teague and released theatrically in the United States on July 2nd, 1980. The formula for Alligator, as well as similar "killer animal"-themed movies likeJoe Dante's 1978 Piranha, is derived from the popularity of Steven Spielberg's 1975 classic thriller Jaws. It also builds on the popular urban legend regarding alligators living in the sewers of major cities. The plot of the film follows Marisa Kendall who, as a child, owned a pet baby alligator named Ramón. Her father, disliking the animal, flushes it down the toilet while she is in school where it spends the next several years growing up in the sewers of Chicago. The adult Marisa Kendall teams up with police detective David Madison to deal with this creature as it breaks out of the sewers and begins running amok throughout the city. Plot It's 1968 and a little girl named Marisa Kendall owns a pet baby alligator. Her father however, doesn’t appreciate her fondness for the animal and wants to be rid of it. One day while Marisa is still in school, he flushes the gator down the toilet and later tells her that it died. Twelve years later: David Madison used to be a cop in St. Louis, Missouri until an unfortunate incident led to the death of another officer. Madison failed to protect his partner from being shot to death during an incident at an establishment known as the Baldwin Hotel. Rather than reprimand Madison for his dereliction, the SLPD instead decided to transfer him to Chicago and they swept the entire matter under the rug. David goes to Luke Gutchel's pet store to buy a dog. He learns that a number of dogs in the Chicago area have been turning up dead. Soon after, he receives a call from his superior, Chief Clark, about an incident down at the city water works. The severed leg of a sewer worker named Ed Norton was discovered floating on top of the sludge. While canvassing the area, the police begin finding the remains of some of the afore-mentioned dogs floating around the same area. Shortly afterward, Luke Gutchel heads out in his truck and picks up an abandoned dog off the side of the road. He takes the animal to the Slade Pharmaceutical plant. Scientist Arthur Helms uses stray puppies in his research tests to try and develop a synthetic growth hormone. Taking Guthchel's supply, he gives him the corpses of dogs that he had already used in his experiments. Gutchel's job is to take the bodies down to the sewers and dump them into the water. After climbing down a service ladder into the sewer, a giant alligator springs from the murky water and eats him. Like Norton, Gutchel's remains re-surface at the water treatment facility (the sewers and water drainage pipes are all inter-connected so it’s feasible for material from one to easily get to the other). Detective Madison inspects Gutchel's remains and determines that he has had dealings with Slade Pharmaceuticals. He drives over there to question Arthur Helms. Helms denies everything that could possibly incriminate the company and claims that all of his test animals come directly from the Humane Society. When the resources run out, they are forced to halt progress. Later that day, Chief Clark and David Madison hold a press conference to discuss the recent deaths. One particular reporter named Thomas Kemp really tries to stick it to Madison by bringing up the St. Louis affair. Madison curtly dodges the question and the press conference ends. & Marisa Kendall.]] Madison decides to attack this situation head on and go into the sewers to see what's going on down there. He thinks there might be a serial killer on the loose who has been dumping his victims into the sewer. He goes looking for volunteers, but nobody wants to work with him. They all know that David's partners don't have a very long life expectancy. One young cop however named Jim Kelley decides to volunteer to help David;. Madison and Kelley go down into the sewers and start poking around. Before long, the alligator awakens and catches the scent of fresh meat. It starts chasing them down one of the tunnels and David gets a pretty good look at it. He scrambles up one of the service hatches, but Kelley is a little too slow to follow him. The gator latches on to Kelley's leg and drags him down into the murkiness. Madison is now forced to return to headquarters and embarrassingly admit to Chief Clark that he lost another partner. David is taken to the hospital just to make sure that he is okay. While relaying his story to Clark, reporter Thomas Kemp pops into the room. Madison refuses to tell him anything about what went on in the sewer so Kemp goes down to the nurses' station in the hopes of prying some information from them. One of the nurses leaks the fact that David was going on about alligators in the sewers. Kemp thinks Madison is crazy, but he also knows that he has latched onto a great story. Kemp takes it upon himself to go down into the sewers and check the story out on his own. As he's taking pictures of various pieces of debris, the gator rises up from behind him and eats him. Kemp's camera drops and begins automatically snapping pictures of the reporter being chewed up. Chief Clark meanwhile believes Madison's story about alligators in the sewer. They decide to consult with herpetologist Marisa Kendall (the same woman whose pet alligator was dumped into the sewer twelve years ago). Kendall doesn't believe the story, as an alligator would not be able to survive in the sewer without sunlight and suitable nourishment. Madison sticks to his story and explains that not only did the animal survive, but that it is twice the size that a normal alligator should be. By now, Kemp's camera has been found and his pictures have been developed. They can no longer disguise the issue and the story leaks to the press. Madison even makes an off-color remark about Kemp finally getting what he always wanted - his name on the front page. Even Marisa Kendall goes on television and confirms that what they are dealing with now is an actual alligator. The mayor of Chicago decides to call in the SWAT team. Their plan is to bait the alligator into a fire-zone by banging on pots and pans and stirring up a bunch of noise in the hopes of herding it into the desired direction. The alligator bursts up through the middle of the concrete street and climbs out of the sewer. People start freaking out all over the place and cop cars arrive on the scene. The gator swats at a car with his tail, sending it crashing off the side of the road. The cop tries to get out through the window, but the animal descends upon him and bites down on his leg. A little kid named Joey sees the entire affair and rushes home to tell his mom. Meanwhile, Madison, Kendall, Chief Clark and the Mayor arrive on the scene to survey the damage. The Mayor wants to keep the thing as quiet as possible. Chief Clark argues with the guy for a while but makes little progress. Kendall makes a cast mold out of one of the alligator's footprints. She estimates the animal to be between 30 and 40 feet long. The Mayor meanwhile flies in a man named Colonel Brock whom he believes will help them rid the city of the creature. But Brock is more concerned about smiling for the camera and playing up his image than he is with hunting the alligator. The Press Corps arrives and Brock tries to seduce a female reporter by making alligator mating calls. The next day, Madison and Kendall decide to go back to Slade Pharmaceutical to put the thumbscrews to them. Madison interrogates Arthur Helms and discovers that Slade has been trying to create a growth hormone. What's more, the alligator has apparently been eating the dogs that had been tested with the hormone, hence the animal's unnaturally large size. ventures top-side.]] Now Slade himself happens to be close with the Mayor. Through their collective machinations, they manage to force Chief Clark to suspend David Madison from investigating the case. It doesn't matter if the SWAT guys and the rest of the force try and stop the gator, it only matters that it can't be traced back to Slade. Madison decides to team up with Kendall to take the alligator down on his own. Thinking that maybe the gator has returned to the sewers, they go down there but turn up nothing. Calling it a day, they go back to Madison's place. The reason that Madison and Kendall have not been able to find the alligator is because it managed to avert the police dragnet and sneak into somebody's back yard where he's been hiding out in the swimming pool for the entire night. It just so happens that the following evening a little kid that lives in the house is having a birthday party. A couple of his friends drag the child into the back yard and begin playing pirate on the swimming pool's diving board. His friends toss him into the pool and within seconds the pool begins churning red with blood. His palette cleansed, the alligator decides to leave. Colonel Brock meanwhile tries to hire three black guys from a street corner to act as bait for the alligator. Two of them are smart enough to realize that this is an unwise move, but Brock questions the bravery of the third man and manipulates him into helping him. They track the gator into a dark alley and Brock investigates a pile of trash bags. Little does he realize however, that alligator was actually hiding beneath a pile of trash and debris. Gator boy jumps out of the garbage and snacks on Colonel Brock. The man he hired has enough common sense to runs away. It's a brand new day and the cops have now herded the gator into the local reservoir. They take their police boats out there and try shooting the animal as he paddles around back and forth. The gator manages to upset one of the boats, knocking a guy overboard, but his buddies manage to haul him back in before the alligator can get a chance to eat him. Unsatisfied, the gator decides to go back on land again. This time he decides to crash a wedding party. Ironically, the alligator crashes the party of Arthur Helms, the scientist from Slade Pharmaceuticals who happens to be marrying old man Slade's daughter. The gator leaps from the bushes and begins chomping down on wedding guests. Other guests scream in terror and try to flee, but the beast just swipes them aside with his tail. They fly through the air and land in the hedges and birdbaths. One man even crashes into the wedding cake. Slade and the Mayor try and run for the street to get away. Slade locks himself inside the limo and doesn't let the mayor share a seat with him. The alligator looms up behind them and eats the Mayor. He then begins bashing the side of Slade's limo with his tail. After this, the alligator once again retreats back into the sewer. David Madison and Marisa Kendall track the gator to a storm drain and know that he has returned to the sewer. Madison swipes a bunch of dynamite from the police evidence room and goes hunting. While David descends down into the sewers, Marisa stays topside. Madison finds the alligator and begins shooting at it with his sidearm. The gator begins chasing him around, but Dave is skilled enough to always remain two steps ahead of the hungry reptile. He baits the alligator into a section of the sewer containing high methane deposits. There he plants the dynamite which is attached to a timer. David's plan is to set the timer and crawl out of a service hatch. Unfortunately, an elderly woman parks her car right on top of the manhole cover. She is stuck in traffic behind a garbage truck. Marisa shows up and races over to the old woman. She tries to explain to her that she needs to move her car or else David is going to blow himself up. Marisa is forced to take the initiative and opens the car door, pushing the woman into the passenger seat. She moves the car off the manhole plate allowing David just enough time to crawl out of there before the bomb goes off. The bomb explodes and the alligator is instantly killed. Although things appear to be safe and normal once again, there is always somebody else willing to flush a baby alligator down a toilet and into the sewer. Cast Notes & Trivia * The tagline for this film is "It's 36 feet long, weighs 2000 pounds, lives 50 feet below the city. Nobody knows it's down there except the people it eats". * Alligator (1980) redirects to this page. * There are a total of fifty-three credited cast members in this film. * Alligator was released to DVD by Lions Gate Home Entertainment on September 18th, 2007. A previous Region 2 DVD was released in the UK on May 21st, 2001. It was also packaged with Alligator II: The Mutation as a two-pack DVD collection on February 24th, 2003. * Lewis Teague appears to have a preference for animal-centric films. He also directed Cujo in 1983 and Cat's Eye in 1985. * John Sayles also wrote the screenplay for the 1981 werewolf film The Howling. * Final film of actor Dean Jagger. * Final film role for Lolita star Sue Lyon. * This is the first, and to date, the only known acting work for Amy Panter. * Actor Michael V. Gazzo is credited as Michael Gazzo in this film. * Actor Sydney Lassick is credited as Sidney Lassick in this film. * Actress Micole Mercurio is credited as Micol in this film. * Actor Jerado Decordovier is credited as Jeradio De Cordovier in this film. * Actor JoJo D'Amore is credited as Jo Jo D'Amore in this film. * Actor Corkey Ford is credited as Corky Ford in this film. * Actor Mike Mazurki is credited as Michael Mazurki in this film. * Actor Robert Hammond, who plays a wedding guest, is uncredited for his participation in this film. * Actor Dana MacDuff, who plays a punk, is uncredited for his participation in this film. * Actress Amy Panter, who plays a party guest, is uncredited for her participation in this film. External Links * * * Alligator at Wikipedia * * ---- Category:Horror Film List Category:Films with plot summaries Category:1980 films Category:1st installments Category:Lewis Teague Category:John Sayles Category:Frank Ray Perilli Category:Robert S. Bremson Category:Brandon Chase Category:Tom Jacobson Category:Mark L. Rosen Category:Craig Huxley Category:Joseph Mangine Category:Larry Bock Category:Ron Medico Category:Robert Forster Category:Robin Riker Category:Michael V. Gazzo Category:Dean Jagger Category:Perry Lang Category:James Ingersoll Category:Sue Lyon Category:John F. Goff Category:Corkey Ford Category:Anita Keith Category:Margie Platt Category:Gloria Morrison Category:Dana MacDuff Category:Amy Panter Category:Alligator, Inc. Category:Nike Zachmanoglou Category:Urban legends